Spain Splintering Apart as Hungry Forage Trash Bins for Next Meal

On a recent evening, a hip-looking young woman was sorting through a stack of crates outside a fruit and vegetable store here in the working-class neighborhood of Vallecas as it shut down for the night.

At first glance, she looked as if she might be a store employee. But no. The young woman was looking through the day’s trash for her next meal. Already, she had found a dozen aging potatoes she deemed edible and loaded them onto a luggage cart parked nearby.

“When you don’t have enough money,” she said, declining to give her name, “this is what there is.”

As Spain tries desperately to meet its budget targets, it has been forced to embark on the same path as Greece, introducing one austerity measure after another, cutting jobs, salaries, pensions and benefits, even as the economy continues to shrink.

Well, same thing happening here in Portugal. Some days ago saw a middle age man, 45 maybe, nicely dressed, short hair, you know, the kind of guy you reckon as a good working man.

He was going from trashcan to trashcan searching for food. As I was watching him a female came, and they both went on searching for something (food?) and putting these pieces inside plastic bags to take with them.

Well, same thing happening here in Portugal. Some days ago saw a middle age man, 45 maybe, nicely dressed, short hair, you know, the kind of guy you reckon as a good working man.

He was going from trashcan to trashcan searching for food. As I was watching him a female came, and they both went on searching for something (food?) and putting these pieces inside plastic bags to take with them.

Me and wife just cried like kids... so fuckin sad man.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 24504790

I don't know where we will stop... i just know that this will go much worse!

Since the European sovereign debt crisis began, it was always clear that somehow it must end with the ECB.

The ECB has the unlimited firepower to back stop wobbly governments, and furthermore, every other modern economy basically works this way: The central bank, not the bond market, is the real funding mechanism for governments. That's why Japan, the UK, and the US don't have sovereign debt crises despite huge government debts.

So when ECB chief Mario Draghi unveiled a plan a couple of weeks ago to buy unlimited amounts of short-term government debt, it appeared that at least a mechanism that would actually work would soon be put into place.

And that mechanism (known as OMT) could work if it gets off the ground, but the rules are that a country has to seek outside aide and oversight in order to be eligible for bond buying, and here's where we run into a problem that the ECB can't solve.

In a note to clients this morning, in the aftermath of the massive protests in Spain, SocGen's Kit Juckes put it bluntly:

That's what the Spanish protests tell us - Mario may be Super, but cheaper funding won't save Europe unless there's a growth strategy.

When it comes to growth and internal issues, there's nothing that Draghi can do.

When it comes to Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy not asking for aide, because he's worried about a separatist movement in Catalonia, there's nothing Draghi can do.

When it comes to Greek protesters waving Merkel/Nazi posters, because the country is in a seemingly intractable/permanent depression, there's nothing Draghi can do (for the most part).

Having an independent central bank that can just say "enough is enough" is great, but eventually politics intervenes. And beyond politics, much deeper things like national pride and regional pride get in the way.

The blow to democracy and the loss of confidence in institutions is a worsening problem, and there's not much for the ECB to do.

A prime example of why all families need to prep to the best of their ability.

Spain is not a third world country, this can happen right here.

Over summer we had the derecho storm move through Northern Virginia. Our house was without electricity for 7 days. The day after, people were lined up hoping power dead stores would open so they could buy toilet paper. TP!!!

That is right, folks did not even have a week of reserve TP on hand!

Luckily, the outage did not encompass the entire metro area, otherwise, a localized (short term) SHTF scenario would have unfolded.

I am writing this post just to underscore how terribly short sighted many people are. They are not even ready for a temporary thunderstorm power outage!

Fate whispers to the warrior

"You cannot withstand the storm"

and the warrior whispers back

"I am the storm"

INTJ:Independent, original, analytical, and determined. Have an exceptional ability to turn theories into solid plans of action. Highly value knowledge, competence, and structure. Driven to derive meaning from their visions. Long-range thinkers. Have very high standards for their performance, and the performance of others. Natural leaders, but will follow if they trust existing leaders.

Life is karma and karma always reflects both past and present circumstance. Our time here is short, so choose carefully and behave well, for all of your tomorrows are presently being decided.

"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."-- William Shakespeare, born April 23, 1564.

INTJ:Independent, original, analytical, and determined. Have an exceptional ability to turn theories into solid plans of action. Highly value knowledge, competence, and structure. Driven to derive meaning from their visions. Long-range thinkers. Have very high standards for their performance, and the performance of others. Natural leaders, but will follow if they trust existing leaders.

Life is karma and karma always reflects both past and present circumstance. Our time here is short, so choose carefully and behave well, for all of your tomorrows are presently being decided.

"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."-- William Shakespeare, born April 23, 1564.

“When you don’t have enough money,” she said, declining to give her name, “this is what there is.”

What happens when people start to fight over the trashed scraps?

What happens when there are no more scraps to trash?

Fate whispers to the warrior

"You cannot withstand the storm"

and the warrior whispers back

"I am the storm"

INTJ:Independent, original, analytical, and determined. Have an exceptional ability to turn theories into solid plans of action. Highly value knowledge, competence, and structure. Driven to derive meaning from their visions. Long-range thinkers. Have very high standards for their performance, and the performance of others. Natural leaders, but will follow if they trust existing leaders.

Life is karma and karma always reflects both past and present circumstance. Our time here is short, so choose carefully and behave well, for all of your tomorrows are presently being decided.

"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."-- William Shakespeare, born April 23, 1564.

Makes me so sad to see this. Europe is so beautiful and holds the seat of so much history for so many of us. I pray a solution is found that will provide a sustainable means of pulling through this.

Fate whispers to the warrior

"You cannot withstand the storm"

and the warrior whispers back

"I am the storm"

INTJ:Independent, original, analytical, and determined. Have an exceptional ability to turn theories into solid plans of action. Highly value knowledge, competence, and structure. Driven to derive meaning from their visions. Long-range thinkers. Have very high standards for their performance, and the performance of others. Natural leaders, but will follow if they trust existing leaders.

Life is karma and karma always reflects both past and present circumstance. Our time here is short, so choose carefully and behave well, for all of your tomorrows are presently being decided.

"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."-- William Shakespeare, born April 23, 1564.

Colossians 1: 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

France Hasn't Had This Many Unemployed Workers Since 1999 by @MishGEA [link to read.bi]

Quoting: Luisport

Yes, 3 million, but you can add 1.5 million of unofficial unemployed (for example when people have a short temporary work, they are not counted as unemployed, even if the work is just for 1 month, or 1 week).

Our govermenment(s) put back the austerity measures, but when it will begins... I fear it will be worst than Spain, because people are not prepared, they think we're still a rich country...

Well, same thing happening here in Portugal. Some days ago saw a middle age man, 45 maybe, nicely dressed, short hair, you know, the kind of guy you reckon as a good working man.

He was going from trashcan to trashcan searching for food. As I was watching him a female came, and they both went on searching for something (food?) and putting these pieces inside plastic bags to take with them.

Me and wife just cried like kids... so fuckin sad man.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 24504790

Saw the same thing in St. Pettersburg, Russia.

Saw an old woman eating some chicken from a dempy-dumster.She had put the chichen bones on the lid of the dempy-dumster using it as a dinner table. Really sad.

Meanwhile in the lofty ivory towers of EU High Command a lowly clerk approaches the great table.

"My leige, the people are starving, they have no bread."

The great and powerful Oz... uh I mean Jose Manuel Barroso (or however you fucking spell it) gazed imperiously at the serf.

"So let them eat cake..."

And so... it begins.

I used to claim that revolution had been bred out of modern humanity, but I FORGOT IN MY HASTE, THE POWER OF GNAWING HUNGER TO IGNITE ANGER AT THEY WHO DEPRIVE YOU OF NOURISHMENT.

When we look back through history, nearly all the great revolutions were galvanized into action by one single all powerful motivating force... People got hungry.

I've waved away nearly every round of portests that have occured in the EU zone over this shit but now, I really suspect, we are seeing the true start of a storm that will not stop until the EU lies in smoking ruins.

Torn down by The People because our (unelected) EU "presidents" did not represent us... They represented nothing but their twisted vision of a neofacist utopia populated by submissive complioant consumers.